Blanket-napping machine



July 17, 1928. 1,617,293

H. v. PRoTHERs BLANKET NAPPING mcnm:

Filed Oct, 19, 1925 v 4 sheets-she t 1 M l 44 45 ,M y 44 I Id 1544 I ENTOR Y 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 17, 1928.

. H. V; PROTHERS rsnmn'n' NAPPING MACHINE Fi'led Oct. 19, 1925 -Patented July 1?, i928.

reuse HAROLD v. rRoTHERs, or NEW YORK, N. Y., essrenonfiav Dinner AND MEsN'E AS- sIeNMENTs, TO THE AMERICAN LAUNDRY MAonrNEar OMPA Y, or .c-INo N- NATI, OHIO, noonronncrron or onIo. r. l

BLANKET-N PPING MACHINE.

Application filed October 19, 1925. Serial No. 63,350.

This invention relates to machines for nap ping fabrics, such as blankets or the like. The object of the invention is to provide an improved napping machine in which the work is carried past or across napping rolls orIbrushes by tapes or bands, the napping brushes being arranged to nap s'uccessi e I series of overlapping stripes or zones of the work, whereby not only'is the entire face of the fabric subjected a plurality of times to the action of the napping brushes, but the latter in roll form may be well supported in spaced bearing and rotate at the necessary high speed.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement of napping brushes in roll form which enables the work to be carried past the napping brushes by tapes or bands and aitords proper provision for support of said tapes or bands. A further object of the invention is to provide improved means for securing relative adjustment between the feed controlling and napping rolls to compensate for or accommodate the machine to fabrics of various thicknesses.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved means for, removing from the machine such lint or other material as may be removed from the work by the action of the napping brushes.

Further objects of the invention are in part obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter.

able embodiment of the invention, Fig. l is a plan view of the machine with some parts broken away to show interior construction; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 22, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail sectionalelevation on the line 33, Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the machine from the left in Fig. 1, showing a' portion of the. driving mechanism for the rolls andcalso the suction producing device; Fig. 5 is an elevation of a part of the right hand side of the machine, F l, showing'additional mechanism for driving the rolls; Fig. 6 is a detail sectional plan view on approximately the line 66, Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a detail sectional plan view on approximately the line 7 7, Fig. 4;

In the drawings, which represent one suit return conveying belt; Fig; 9 is a detail end I view, on a larger scale, illustrating the .ec

centric mechanism for varying thespace bewhich serve as supports for depending split bearing members In said bearing members andin suitable aligned bearings in the frame are journalled three napping rolls, 5,

6 and 7, along each of which are distributed a series of nap brushportions8 of usual form, each'of said brush portionsgbeing separated longitudinally of its shaft from ts neighbors by a distance equal to ap proximately one-half the length .of each' brush portion, for a purpose which will later appear. Below the napping rolls 5, Band 7 are located three work teed controlling rolls 9, 10 and 11 carrying brush portions 12 dis tributed along the shafts in spaced relation opposed to and similar to the relation of the brush portions 8 before referred to, and the shaftsof said rolls 9, l0 and 11 at their ends having reduced portions 13 jotu nal'led eccentrically in eccentric members let journailed in the frame.

The three napping rolls 5. 6 and 7 are of relatively large diameter and rotate ,at relatively high speed, for which reason they provided with the intermediate bearings l, two for each roll, as described, wh le the it'eed controlling rolls 9, l0 and 11 are of smaller diameter and rotate at low speed,

for which reason sa-id feed controlling rolls require no'intermediate bear ngs, but their .journalsin the eccentrics '14 are suflic'ient;

; At each side of the machine each of the eccentrics let is provided with an arm 15,

the severalarms 15 being interconnected by links '16 and being alsofc onnected bya link 17 with an arm 18 on a shaft 1-9 provided with a hand lever 20, by o eration Of which lever th-ejeccentrics 14 may be turned in the frame toraise or lower the 'rolls .9.,'1 0 andrll and thereby vary the distance ors'pace be tween the feed controlling and napping Y rollers.

The driving mechanism for the napping and feeding rollers may be of any suitable form. As shown however, one of the napping rolls, say roll 7, is provided at one end with a belt pulley 21 from which a belt will pass to any suitable driving pulley, either on a line shaft-or on the shaft of an electric motor or the like. At the opposite side of the machine, say at the right in Fig. 1, the

from which a belt 25passes to a pulley 26,

on a shaft 27 provided with a pinion 28,

driving a gear 29 on a shaft 30, said shaft having a sprocket 31 from which a chain 32 passes to a sprocket 33 on one of the feed controlling rolls, say roll 9, and said feed rolls are inter-connected by the sprockets 34 and chains 35 in the same manner as the napping rolls, as in Fig. 5.

The drive chains and sprockets from the napping roll 5 to the feed roll 9 secure a material speed reduction, so that while the feed rolls are driven from the nap rolls they rotate at a much slower speed and in the opposite direction.

The Workis fed to the machine from the left in Fig. 2 and in that view the napping shafts 5, 6 and 7 rotate in the counter-clock- .wise direction. The function of the brushes '12 on rolls 9, 10 and 11 is to hold back the work against the action of the brushes 8 on the more rapidly rotating rolls 5, 6 and 7. Therefore, to positively feed the work through the machine,I have provided three groups of pairs of upper and lower belts or hands, one group of such pairs of belts for feeding the work between the shafts 5 V and 9, a second group for feeding it between the shafts 6 and 10, and a third group for feeding it between shafts 7 and 11. The first group includes a series of upper endless belts .36 passing over idler shafts 37, some of whichmay be provided with grooved belt guiding portions, as indicated in Fig. 12, and

lower endless belts 38 travelling over similar idler shafts 39. The belts 36, 38 run parallel with each other and are distributed along the shafts 5, 9 in the spacesbetween the brush portionson said shafts, and each of the upper belts 36 lies directly above or ein facing relation with a lower belt 38. The

work is fed past the second pair of napping and feed controlling rolls, 6, 10 by a group I of upper endless belts 40 and a group of lower endless belts 41, and past the third pair. of nappingand feed controlling rolls 7 11, by a third series o'f-upper endless belts 42 and lower endless belts 43 arranged in like manner with the first group. The last group of upper and lower feed belts deliver the work upon a series of return belts 4 1-, located below the upper belts, as shown in Fig. 2, and travelling over idler shafts 45, 46, so that when the work has been passed once through the machine it is returned to the place of feeding to be again sent through the machine reversed for napping its opposite side.

Inspection of Figs. 1, 6, 7 and 8 will show that the brush portions of the three upper napping rolls are directly opposite the feed controlling rolls which lie beneath them, but the brushes of the three succeeding rolls are in offset or staggered relation with each other. Also, as beforestated the belts are of a width equal to half the length of each of the brush portions. Therefore, each of the napping brushes produces a napping effect upon two-thirds of the surface of the work, the other third being covered by the carrying belts travelling in the spaces between the brush portions of the napping and the feed controlling shafts, the brush portions of each shaft therefore napping a series of stripes upon the work. Also, the second set of brush portions produces a napping efi'ect upon one-half of the surface napped by the first set of napping brushes and also a napping effect upon that surface of the work which was covered by the belts at the first napping brushes, while the third set of napping brushes naps the other half of the previously napped surface and produces a second napping action'upon the surface newly napped by the second set of brushes. The net result is that the work in and feed controlling brushes is subjected over its entire area to two complete napping actions. the napping effect, of course, being applied only to one surface of the work. The action of these napping brushes is to comb out the fibres or threads of the work and in the operation of'a' certain amount of lint or short fibres will be removed from it.

Preferably, suitablemeans isprovided for removing such lint from the machine, such as a series of suction nozzles 50, onelocated with its slot opposite the space between each pair of napping and feeding controlling rolls and extending the full length of said rolls, the three nozzles extending out to one side of the machine where they are connected by conduits 51 to any suitable source of producing suction, such as a commonconduit 52 leading to a suction pump or the like. i

The arrangement describedprovides continuouslysmoving belts for supporting the work and carrying it past the napping and feed controlling rolls, together with means for varying the distance between the napance with the thickness of the work. T'he work carrying belts are properly supported ping and feed controlling rolls in accordfor their travel in the machine and the arrangement also permits the use of intermediate bearings for the rapidly rotating napping rolls, which can therefore rotate at relatively higher speed than would otherwise be the case. The work is nlpped or brushed in stripes with repeated action upon different portions thereof and is finally delivered at the front end of the machine so that it is unnecessary to station operators at both ends of the machine. It will also be noted that the action of the feeding belts is not only to carry the work through the machine, but to strip it from the nap-ping and especially from the feed controlling rolls, in case the nap points become entangled with the fabric and tend to hold the same and wrap it around one or the other of said rolls. There is also no tendency to draw or pull the work out of shape.

lVhat I claim is: r

1. A napping machine, comprising a series of successive napping rolls, a feed controlling roll opposite each of said napping rolls, all of said rolls having interrupted brush portions spaced along their length, and work feeding belts moving in the spaces between said brush portions, the interrupted brush portions of the napping and feed rolls of each pair being in opposed relation and the interrupted brush portions of succeeding" pairs of rolls being in offset relation to each other.

2. A napping machine, comprising a series of successive napping rolls, a. feed controlling roll opposite each. of said napping rolls, all of said rolls having interrupted brush portions spaced along their length, and work feeding belts moving in the spaces between said brush portions, the interrupted brush portions of the napping and feed rolls of each pair being in opposed relation and the interrupted brush portions of succeeding pairs of rolls being in ofiset relation to each other, each brush portion being approximately twice the length of each space be- I tween brush portions.

3. A napping machine, comprising a. plurality of successive napping rolls provided with interrupted brush portions spaced along the same, co-operating feed controlling rolls, endless tapes or bands for supporting the work and conveying the same forwardly between said napping and feed controlling rolls from the feeding end of the machine to the far end, and return belts for conveying the work rearwardly from the far end back to the feeding end of the ma chine, the interrupted brush portions of successive rolls being in offset or staggered relation with each other, and said forwardly and rearwardly conveying belts being in staggered relation with each other.

i. A napping machine, comprising co-opcrating napping and feed controlling rolls arranged in superposed relation, means for supporting the work and feeding it between said rolls, and lint removing suction means having its receiving mouth arranged between portions of said superposed rolls thereby rendering said suction means highly elfective. p

5. A napping machine, comprising a series of successive napping rolls each having interrupted brush portions, and conveyor members for supporting the work and moving the same past said napping rolls, said conveyor members engaging said rolls between the interrupted brush portions thereof.

6. A napping machine, comprising a series of successive napping rolls each having in terrupted brush portions, and conveyor members for supporting the work and moving the same past said napping rolls, said conveyor members engaging said rolls between the interrupted brush portions thereof, the interrupted b-rush portions of the several rolls being in oiiset relation.

7. A napping machine, comprising a plurality of pairs of. cooperating rolls each having interrupted brush portions and conveyor members for supporting the work and moving the same past said napping rolls, said conveyor members moving in the spaces between said brush portions.

8. A napping machine, comprising a plurality of pairs of cooperating rolls each having interrupted brush portions, conveyor members for supporting the work and moving the same past said napping rolls, said conveyor members moving in the spaces between said brush portions, and intermediate bearings for one of said rolls having engage ment therewith in the spaces between the brush portions of said roll.

In testimony whereof I hereby affix mysignature.

HAROLD V. PROTHERS. 

